Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Some basic info about GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) and FRS (Family Radio Service)

As you probably know GMRS shares freqs/22 channels with FRS.

For GMRS Channels 1-7 are limited to 5 watts.
For FRS channel 1-7 are limited to 2 watts

For channels 8-14 both GMRS and FRS are limited to 1/2 watt. From what I understand most GMRS and FRS radios automatically switch to 1/2 watt when on these channels. There are some mobile GMRS radios that don't use channels 8-14 because of the low power.

GMRS handhelds are usually 4-5 watts. GMRS mobile/base radios are typically 15 up to 50 watts which is the max allowable.

Channels 15-22 are limited to 50 watts max and also share those same channels/frequencies with repeaters. Channels 15-22 can be either simplex (radio to radio) or through repeaters using GMRS. Most GMRS users program the repeater tones/offsets as separate channels.

FRS radios can use channel 15-22 on 2 watts but can not use repeaters.

And...most 2 watt capable FRS radios are more expensive than the 5 watt Baofengs. You can buy either a ham UV5R or GMRS UV5R for $18 shipped through Amazon. Unlock either of them and you're good to go for whatever you need.

For the price, they are good little radios for family members. ( esp since a lic covers family 10yr/$35 )

To address the elephant in the room...

Q-Is it legal to use a Baofeng UV5R (ham) radio on GMRS?

A- The ham UV5R is a part 90 classified radio so you're not supposed to use it for GMRS which is a part 95 type. The older UV5Rs are not locked and allow programming GMRS. The newer ones lock out GMRS but are easy to unlock with a few button pushes.

There are however probably millions of the older and newer UV5Rs in use on GMRS and the FCC has never/ever done anything about it. They have to make all their enforcement actions public. No one has ever been caught or punished according to public record over the course of 20 years or so. Not to mention there is no way to tell what kind of radio is transmitting on what frequency.

Should you break the FCC rules (which are not laws)? Only you can answer that.

However with the introduction of GMRS type 95 UV5Rs* it probably would be better to buy one of them and program it to use ham or other bands in addition to GMRS. It's not a violation to use ham (with a ham license) on a GMRS typed radio.

It should be noted that the new GMRS UV5R while a dual (VHF/UHF) band radio comes programmed for just the UHF GMRS channels and locks out other channels/frequencies. You can however legally unlock it using free CHIRP software to program UHF & VHF ham, NOAA, MURS, Marine, business and other bands.

Ham operators tend to be OCD when it comes to their hobby so if you do or intend to use a UV5R ham radio on GMRS my suggestion is "don't ask, don't tell" or just tell them it's one of those GMRS type 95 UV5Rs.

*To complicate things even more there are other UV5R radios with different designations and classifications. Some are GMRS radios some are ham. Some are 5 watt, some are 8. Some have 2 bands some have 3, some have 7 or 8 different bands including aircraft.